Saturday, November 13, 2010

Lunch Ideas, Anyone?

Andy does not eat bread. Or noodles. Oh, that includes things like flatbread and pita.

So I need breadless lunch ideas. He's been subsisting on cheese sticks, cheese crackers, and cheez whiz snacks. I haven't had luck with cream cheese or cottage cheese. He doesn't like eggs. Sending in plain lunchmeat worked... for a while. Not anymore. He's not eating yogurt anymore, either.

And the fact is, the child needs to eat. He's skinny as a rail, and constantly on the move. I'm worried about his future health if all I can get him to eat are pre-packaged junk foods His body may be able to handle them now, but what about ten years from now? Twenty? And all that salt can't be doing him any good.

We're in a world of kids with strange food preferences and limited diets. What do you send in those school lunchboxes? Help!

Thanks!

10 comments:

farmwifetwo said...

Crackers - there are whole wheat, less salt versions.

Will he eat meat?? So you could make a roast or a ham or a chicken and slice some pieces off. He could put them on his cracker himself. Or simply eat them alone.

Soups with rice... if he'll eat a hot lunch and can manage on his own. Soups with just meat and veggies.

Homemade pizza, again adding "good for you" foods instead of processed ones. Make it on a pita and get him to help make it... might give a little more incentive to eat it.

Will he eat veggies alone or dipped in ranch dressing. The ranch can be in one of the tiny reusable containers. Fruit??

Cheerios.

A few off the top....

Christine said...

I feel your pain. Back when we were doing the specific carbohydrate diet my kids couldn't have any of the more traditional lunch fare. We ate a lot of stir fry -- would that work? You could just make extra for dinner the night before and send a portion at lunch.

Anonymous said...

Ham and cheese/turkey and cheese rollups work here, something about the fun shape seems to do it. Roll turkey and cheese into a tube, stick a toothpick through it. It's like a sandwich without the bread and is actually quicker to make in the morning.

kristi said...

Lunches are tough for us too. TC used to eat lunchmeat but won't anymore. Now it is weinies everyday. He will eat turkey weinies and baked crackers but he is very picky!

Tracy DeLuca said...

Will he eat lettuce? Mine won't but.... rollups using a lettuce leaf instead of bread or tortilla would be great. Look at any of the bento meal ideas. That's what I am looking into.

Cheese cubes, rolled up lunch meat, granola bars (?), fruit bars, will he eat muffins at all?

I am going through much the same but my boy ONLY likes starches. No meat, few cheeses, few veggies, few fruits.

Stimey said...

We do chicken tenders in a thermos-y thing. Also E-Z Mac, but it doesn't sound like that would work.

Joeymom said...

Part of the issue is we can't heat anything. I have had no luck with thermoses keeping anything above lukewarm. Refridgeration is limited to an ice pack.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

Amanda said...

We do organic granola bars (with sometimes peanut butter chips and sometimes chocolate chips), corn chips, bananas, apples, applesauce, sometimes cookies, Fig Newmans, and 100% juice boxes. Mordecai's awfully picky about lunches, too, but he knows we won't buy anything too full of preservatives, so he works with us to figure out what he is OK with. We balance that out with making sure he's got fiber & fats with breakfast and veggies with dinner. It did take us about two weeks of uneaten lunches this fall to figure out what he would eat (which was not sandwiches, bread of any kind, carrots, or cheese [mostly because regular cheese gets gooey by the time lunch comes 'round]). I wish you luck!

Tracy DeLuca said...

My son's doctor told me to stop stressing out so much about what he was eating. He said that he WILL broaden his tastes eventually and right now the stress of worrying was too much. He said feed him what he will eat and don't stress. Give him a multi vitamin and try to give more rounded meals when he is home.

Just saying. I think we all worry constantly when we may just need to relax. (Not that I am not STILL trying to get my boy to eat different hings!)

How about things like waffles or pancakes? Will he eat those? If so, make sandwiches with them.

We also really love the fruit filled multigrain bars. Will he eat grapes or bananas? What about raisins or trail mix?

Think snacks that he will eat and just send several small amounts of each snack he likes. Like a little buffet.

I came back to see what everyone else said! I can ALWAYS use more ideas myself.

VAB said...

Have you tried rice? If he likes it, it can be put in Tupperware or shaped into balls. How about chicken nuggets? They can be good cold, too. And, on the topic of yummy cold foods, let's not forget pizza.